a nice little commercial for upcoming events in Southern California brought to you by GOGO13!

This Friday Night:

CinemAttack presents:The Dance Craze Dance Party!@the Long Beach Art Theatercome watch a rare 35mm print of the legendary 2tone concert film Dance Craze, for the fist time in the US in over 25 years!!featuring concert footage of: the Specials, Madness, the English Beat, the Selecter, the Bodysnatchers, and Bad Manners!plus there will be a Q&A with the movie’s cinematographer Joe Dunton!plus, plus DJ Lawless will be spinning Ska & Reggae classics all night!so pick up your best mates, hop on your scooters, and come spend a night of dancing to all the 2tone hits!

aannnnnddd…

June 7th: Five Iron Frenzy, GOGO13, and Dan P & the Bricks will be playing the Club Nokia!

It is the responsibility of every artist to think critically about the work they produce. This is Richard Bate Jr’s response to my 140 character critique of the Lazy Mexican Gardener Stereotype in his ‘film’ ‪#‎SuburbanGothic‬. It is terrifyingly ironic that as a self proclaimed champion of underdogs and outcasts, this movie would so blatantly alienate an entire race of people for a couple of cheap laughs. I had the misfortune to be at the premiere for this movie last night and not only was ‪#‎RichardBatesJr‬ unapologetic online, but also in person. Last night he told me my concerns were, “Silly”. He continued to be flippant throughout the Q&A. He tried to joke that his film was fun unless you were a Mexican and asked an audience member if they were Mexican before answering a question, once identified as Caucasian, he answered. All of his responses and jeers during this Q&A were filmed by ‪#‎Cinemattack‬ and I only hope they will be released to the public. It is terrifying to know, yet important to note how my concerns have been met with a block online and a mocking in person. As I sat in the historic ‪#‎VistaTheatre‬ in Los Felix I experienced true suburban horror as audiences laughed at a Mexican gardener on screen say he had just come back to the worksite to raid a fridge. However, I do not blame audiences. I do not even blame Richard Bates Jr. for anything before his decided deafness to the issue raised. It can be difficult to be fully aware of the injustices we are subjected to, but because this is so clear to me now I have to speak out against it. And I ask, will you ask @richardbatesjr1 on twitter the question yourself. Why further the negative, tired, stereotype of the Lazy Mexican Gardener? If he ends up behind a self imposed barricade of a blocked twitter community, it may be safer for him to stay in there than to be behind a camera.